Swelling
Hi, has anyone had problems with excessive swelling in their stomach pouch. I'm back on my pre-op diet for two weeks after an overnight hospital stay. Told my doctor for a week my diet was not progressing and they finally listened to me and did an EGD and Upper GI and found I have excessive swelling. I'm four weeks post op and my doctor said he had not seen this before. Little frustrated but believing this is just a small hiccup.
This is in general...No doctor here. For the RNY patient, usually your pouch is made the size of a walnut or your thumb. Over 6-12 months it grows (stretches) out to about the size of a lemon. Before surgery your stomach is about the size of your fist. We have heard of people whose pouch enlarges faster than others...Usually after about 6 months. Haven't heard of 1 month though. Just making sure your are talking about your pouch swelling and not the link between your pouch and your intestine. If that is the case, then you have a stricture...You can look that one up and we can give you more info. People over the years have said eating and drinking at the same time will enlarge the pouch. Also, carbonated drinks will enlarge it too. Follow doctor's orders and let us know how it is going. Brian
Hi Brian,
I believe it was a stricture, my doctor stated he had to do a dilation and based upon the research I've done it would be a stricture. This is all new to me and the doctor just had me very concerned and down when he said he has done hundreds of these surgeries and not had "one" patient to have as much swelling as I had and even asked if I had told him all of my medical history. Oh well...I'm following his requirements and going back to the pre-op diet. My only thing is that is really hard to get the required 64 oz of water, plus protein in. I'm trying very hard, right now I'm at about 18 g of protein and about 40 oz of fluids (including the milk I use for the protein shake).
Thanks,
Tory
This is a repost...but it usually helps one or two people going through it.
What is a stricture? This question comes up weekly, if not daily on OH. Below is a copy and paste from Wikipedia. If you are a few weeks out post op from RNY and have problems keeping well chewed food (even water) down, you might have a stricture. Very common and very treatable (about 5% of RNY patients get them). Also do not freak out if you have to go back a second or third time to get treated for one. The Gastroenterologist will go just below the pouch and air up the "balloon" . It is an outpatient procedure and you will be sedated.
As the anastomosis heals, it forms scar tissue, which naturally tends to shrink ("contract") over time, making the opening smaller. This is called a "stricture". Usually, the passage of food through an anastomosis will keep it stretched open, but if the inflammation and healing process outpaces the stretching process, scarring may make the opening so small that even liquids can no longer pass through it. The solution is a procedure called gastroendoscopy, and stretching of the connection by inflating a balloon inside it. Sometimes this manipulation may have to be performed more than once to achieve lasting correction.
